Skull and Cross Bones
Citizens of India have a fundamental right to freedom. The freedom to choose. Choose a religion or anything. Choose to eat or not. Drink or not. Why is smoking so different? We all know it kills. Why dont we then put a board on all roadside food stalls that unhygeinic food can cause Malaria and Cholera and paste pictures of people in hospitals? Even kids eat from roadside stalls. What about butter. If you have so much butter and cheese, your cholestorol can nearly kill.
But this country will spend money on pasting dirty pictures on cigarette packaging. A picture that carries a message that everyone already knows. Cigarettes kill. Why spend so much of money on some team to come up with this idea, then hold press conferences and just spend on something that may not even make the slightest of a difference to the smokers. There are so many NGOs working on grassroot level problems like how children do not go to school and as a result of which do not understand the value of good health and hygiene. Spend the money there. Its crazy sometimes how certain things that a country does are so insignificant. One might feel that they are done just to get the health ministry some visibility.
What do you think? Does this move actually display an act of responsibility on part of the Government of India, reinforcing that regulation can save this country from its race to grave? Or is it a waste?
Want to read the Hindustan Times article about the same? Click...
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=3a115c5b-7d2c-44d2-a44f-78ba7d81bcb8&&Headline=Cigarette+packs+to+carry+skull+and+crossbones
- Deepika
5 Comments:
the question is "will the cigarette smoker stop smoking after lookin at this image".... i dont know.. But yes, im sure some of them will surely think that this can happen to me. The guilt factor comes into play. This can make the difference.
Coming to the monetary terms about the costs incurred for this campaign, I think is peanuts to what the govt earns by the sale of cigarettes. They could have used the money earned from this sale for other social purposes. But are they doing so?.... I again do not know.
Therefore a wise decision taken here........kudos to the govt. for this.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i think these images in the pack would definitely make a difference..."Smokers knows cigarette kills" but thats not in their mind whenever they smoke..the thought is there for few seconds and then they just forget about it..
As one of the research says.." a person sees his cigarette pack for atleast 15-20 (not talking abt ppl who buy loose) times a day" ..know if there is something that keeps reminding me of my death or diseases atleast 5 times a day also its definately making an impact in a big way and working on my guilty..but the only problem is the mind set " it cannot happen to me" might act as an hindrance...Otherwise i think its a much better medium than most other mediums...to make ppl realize
You know what this is going to lead to?? Smoke shop people keeping old non picture packs to sell the brand at a higher price! And people would buy...its not that they are not exposed to this wide range of information or pictures even now...it hasnt made a difference and it wont make a difference. another point: keep staring at a ghastly picture for more than 5 mins... it will stop irking you...it would be a lost cause...a better move would be to target the children....make ways to set anti smoking in their minds...in such a way that they wouldnt pick up smoking and also stop their parents and siblings from continuing the habit.
If you were to ask me - and I think you should , having been there and done that - smoking is far more damaging than any other habit . Eating unhygenic food is silly ! But all that it leads to is perhaps a tummy upset . Eating excessive butter is again silly . But not something that a regular work out and a kick on the butt won't help mitigate
But smoking is the pits ! Mistakenly perceived to be macho and stylish , it actually is a sign of abject weakness . To an uncouth addiction that is a slow killer ; not only of the smoker , but also of those around him - the unsuspecting mass of passive smokers . They too are equally at risk .
Thus no matter what governements do - banning the advertising , making the packs more gruesome etc -
thay will always be inadequate . There's a poor sucker who falters every minute !! What governemnts should actually do is to ban the production of cigarettes . No ciggies - no malffects ! But which governent has the will
Till then let's welcome whatever they do . Someone , somewhere in the world is at some time or the other giving up . May their numbers multiply .
To all the smokers of the world , here's one more reason to quit . While its stupid to screw your own health , what makes you think you have the right to damge someone else's health ? Not just those around you but also your yet to be born children . How cruel can you get ? All for the privilege of exhaling some hot air . Yuck .
Read the news item below . And if you still don't wanna give up , you sure need help . Your true friends must step in and forcibly chuck your pack away , till sense dawns . You'll thank them when you're back to your senses ......
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Kids of smoker moms face problems
Here's another piece of bad news for India's 250 million smokers, especially women.
Children with at least one parent who smokes have been found to have 5.5 times higher levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine, in their urine. A study by researchers from Warwick Medical School and the University of Leicester, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood on Wednesday, says having a mother who smokes was found to have the biggest independent effect on cotinine in the urine — quadrupling it.
Cotinine was measured in 104 urine samples taken from infants aged 12 weeks, 71 of whom had parents who smoked. Having a smoking father doubled the amount of cotinine. Infants who slept with their parents tended to have higher cotinine levels because they had greater exposure to parents' smoke-contaminated clothing.
The temperature in the child's room also influenced cotinine levels, with lower temperature tied to higher amounts of the nicotine metabolite. Prof Ann Jackson from Warwick Medical School told TOI, "It is now clear that babies are fast becoming heavy passive smokers that will severely damage their physiological development. It's worse when the mother smokes as the baby is usually always in close proximity of the mother."
Dr Mike Wailoo of the University of Leicester added that parental smoking is a leading risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome. "One reason for this could be inhalation of or closeness to clothing or other objects contaminated with smoke particles during sleep. This is the first time we've found the direct effect of cigarette smoke on babies at their home. Cotinine available in such high quantities makes it seem as if the child itself is the smoker."
The study should be an eye-opener for the increasing number of urban women smokers in India. Dr A K Dewan from the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, said, "In India, about one-third of women use at least one form of tobacco."
Doctors already believe that infants of mothers who smoke are put at almost five times the risk of dying from cot death.
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